Zoological Research Dazzles By Exposing Great Sexual Diversity Among Species

Bitch by Lucy Cooke is about finally getting the science right, debunking the male biases in zoological research influenced by the work of Charles Darwin. This early perspective on research embraced, “the widespread notion, popularized by Darwin, that females were generally passive and males active. The theory was embellished by others and labelled the Organizational Concept–the universally accepted model for sexual differentiation not just of bodies, but behaviour too.” 

This book leaves readers dazzled by the complex diversity among different species’ reproductive systems as revealed by countless research studies Cooke details. This research done in the last half of the 20th century as well as in the first quarter of the 21st century is cause for astonishment, reverence, and awe as so many new discoveries are made regarding what drives evolution, reproduction, and social development in countless different species’ communities, and puts the Organizational Concept in its proper context, bolstered by these countless detailed, and meticulously recorded studies.

In the course of her writing this book Cooke contacted David Crews, professor of Zoology and Psychology at the University of Texas about his research, “Crews blames Darwin’s Organizational Concept for promoting a rigid deterministic view of sex, which focuses on the differences between the sexes, reinforcing the binary concept and ignoring the glorious diversity of sexual characteristics found in nature…The standard paradigm has, in his opinion, had its day. It is mammal-centric, overly simplistic and underplays the role of oestrogen as an organizing and activating sex hormone. ‘Females are just as differentiated [active] as males…the female is the ancestral sex. I think there’s a lot of evidence for that.’“ 

Cooke describes a strange bird a retired high school teacher sees in his yard, like a half male/half female cardinal split lengthwise right down the middle, one half brilliant scarlet, the other half a muddy brown. It turns out to be a gynandromorph, the male half “complete with solitary internal testicle, whereas the brown side had an ovary instead. This bilateral condition is rare but has been documented in a number of birds, butterflies, insects and crustaceans–animals all with the ZW sex-determination system.” 

In an article he wrote in Scientific American, “Arthur Arnold, a research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, got his hands on a zebra finch gynandromorph…This zebra finch had been observed singing, [something only zebra finch males do] so Arnold assumed it would have a uniform ‘male’ brain. When he dissected the bird, however, he discovered the female side of the brain a little more masculinized than normal, but crucially the bird’s song circuit had only developed on the gynandromorph’s male side…It blew me away,’ Arnold told Scientific American at the time. The gynandromorph’s semi-female brain cast doubt on the omnipotence of gonadal steroids to differentiate sexual dimorphism in birds…Here was evidence that androgens were not the exclusive force sculpting the sexuality of a bird’s body, brain, and behaviour. Instead the sex chromosomes, exerting their identity inside neural cells, must be playing a crucial role.”

David Crews later underscores his bottom line in his years of study, a kick in the nuts to the Organizational Concept: “The ‘female’ sex steroid has a critical role even in males, because males were originally females…So, in the gospel according to Crews: Eve wasn’t created out of Adam’s rib, it was the other way round. In the beginning there was female, and she gave rise to male. From this alternative evolutionary perspective, the ultimate answer to what is a female is: she’s the ancestral sex. Relics of this primal egg-layer exist within all of us. Which puts a fresh spin on males getting in touch with their feminine side.“

As we leave the research rich first quarter of the 21st century behind with all of it’s scientific revelations, with a more diverse researcher population contributing, a more authentic picture emerges about various evolutionary changes, the factors affecting or driving changes, and what insights they provide about humankind’s own evolution, past and future. Cooke notes, “Researching this book was a liberating experience. I no longer feel like a sad misfit. Females are not destined to be passive and coy, evolutionary afterthoughts just waiting to be dominated by males. Even when we are physically weaker, we can still be powerful. It’s forced a shift in my perspective to recognize my own cultural biases and try to banish any lingering heteronormative presumptions about the relationship between biological sex, gender identity, sexed behaviour and sexuality.”

This book draws back the curtain on the lives of so many different species, and the kind of intelligence that informs their action; it leaves readers with such a feeling of kinship to them. So many scientists have dedicated their lives to finding answers that put earlier generations of research in a new and not so flattering context. American author and academic Anne Fausto-Sterling reflects, “The fight for biological truth is crucial if we are to forge a more inclusive society that can work together to protect the future of our planet and all that live on it.” By better understanding life’s processes, we are more fully connected with all the life forms evolving and changing beside us, generating a sense of ownership and responsibility in the pathway foreward. Reading this book will get you started on this wondrous journey.